WESLEY HILLS, New York—The ceiling came crashing down on the three men on the staircase. The police detective, who went first, fell into the nearby bathroom, hit his head on the iron bathtub, and was knocked unconscious. The fugitive landed on his feet in front of the two police detectives and bounty hunter, Scott Bernstein, who were standing in the narrow hall.
“The detective who’s on my right engaged him, and [the fugitive] threw him like a rag doll off to his right,” Bernstein said.
“I’m ready to go, but all of the sudden the other detective jumps on him,” he said. The man backhanded the detective, who fell down the staircase behind them, breaking his leg.
They stood face to face. Bernstein grabbed him, and the two fought. They landed in the bedroom at the other end of the hall. Bernstein tried to arrest the man. The man grabbed his wrists. “I could hear the crunching of my bones,” Bernstein said.
“So all of the sudden he starts grabbing my arm and he starts biting on it—really hard. I can show you the teeth marks,” Bernstein said. He pointed to a series of white scars near his wrist. “These are all teeth marks.”
